Support Masteries Guide 2017 | League of Legends

There are 4 supportive keystones, all serving vastly different purposes.

The question is, what champions take which masteries? The answer to this question varies depending on the scenario.

When making your mastery page, you need to ask yourself a few basic questions. What champion am I playing? What is my role in this game? Would a certain keystone be better into a specific match up? The list goes on.

Before you can properly identify when to take which mastery, you first need to learn what each mastery does.

Support Masteries

Thunderlord’s Decree (Cunning Tree)

Hitting an enemy champion with an ability (ability damage) or basic attack (on-hit) marks them with Thunderlord’s Decree for 3 seconds. At 3 stacks, the target is dealt 10 – 180 (based on level) + (30% bonus AD) + (10% AP) magic damage in an area around them. Thunderlord’s Decree can only be triggered once every 25 – 15 (based on level) seconds.

Courage of the Colossus (Resolve Tree)

Champions and Corresponding Support Masteries

Soraka:

Soraka is one of the champion that benefits from only support mastery. Windspeaker’s Blessing enables Soraka’s kit more than any other mastery. The armor and magic resist bonus combined with the healing amplification makes Soraka extremely hard to deal with.

Zyra:

Zyra is another champion that only benefits from one support mastery. Thunderlord’s Decree increases Zyra’s laning phase significantly, making her another damage threat to worry about. Zyra is a long range aggressive support that can get three attacks off without even trying. This makes her presence in lane very annoying.

Taric:

Taric is a very aggressive and tanky champion. He benefits from both support masteries in the Resolve tree. Stoneborn Pact and Courage of the Colossus both suit his in your face playstyle.

You should think about running Stoneborn Pact if you have an ADC that needs peel. Taric generally gets very tanky, 2.5% if his max health is a significant amount of health to gain per auto. If your ADC knows how to kite and effectively and can get autos off when you stun, it’s likely they will live through most situations. It will also help an ADC that isn’t great in lane win trades easier.

If you find yourself in a aggressive lane with a self sufficient ADC, you should run Courage of the Colossus. It helps you tank damage while engaging, allowing your ADC to trade freely while the enemy focuses you.

Some people would even argue that Taric can Run Windspeaker’s Blessing. Taric’s W, Starlight’s Touch, actually heals a substantial amount when paired with Windspeaker’s increased healing. Thus allowing you to win extended trades and play a more sustain oriented lane.

Nautilus:

Nautilus is a champion that has a lot of hard CC and engage. He has everything he needs to utilize Courage of the Colossus. His hook pulls the enemy damage dealer closer, putting himself at risk of taking an advantageous trade. The shield from Courage stacked with Titan’s Wrath will provide him more than enough cushion to take some damage and get away with it.

Stoneborn Pact is also a strong support mastery on Naut. He can lock an enemy down and allow the ADC to get free damage and sustain. He also benefits from the maximum health bonus due to the fact Titan’s Wrath scales off max health.

In situations where you have an advantageous match up and you can afford to be cheesy, Thunderlord’s is a fun support mastery on him. It can make your auto Riptide combo do surprising damage. Thus leading you to win small skirmishes.

Tahm Kench:

Tahm Kench is an extremely tanky champion, even in the early stages of the game. His W, Thick Skin, allows him to have two health bars whenever he decides to put a point into his E.

This means that the support mastery that suits him best is Stoneborn Pact. The 5% health increase is pretty substantial on a champion who can get multiple thousand HP.

He is also good at keeping his enemy permanently slowed, allowing your ADC to get the most out of the healing passive.

Sona:

Sona can play two completely different kinds of lanes. She benefits from the support masteries in the Cunning tree. Both Thunderlord’s Decree and Windspeaker’s Blessing help Sona maximize her kit in different ways.

When you run Thunderlord’s on Sona, you generally want to play a more aggressive and poke oriented lane. Thunderlord’s procs off her Hymn of Valor Power chord auto combo. This allows her to get a lot of damage down in a rapid succession. This also scales with her AP, so the carry style Sona players love Thunderlord’s.

Windspeaker’s blessing is the safer, more traditional route. It allows you to sustain through almost any matchup and doesn’t effect her damage too greatly. In most cases, Windspeaker’s Blessing is the best option. Especially for players that are newer to the game or not confident in their Sona ability.

Zilean:

Zilean is a damage oriented support. He doesn’t have any tank stats, so support masteries in the Resolve tree don’t work with his kit.

He also doesn’t have any healing, so Windspeaker’s Blessing doesn’t help him either.

This leaves him with one option, and probably the most obvious, Thunderlord’s.

It benefit’s his carry style, and helps win small skirmishes while applying more lane pressure.

Alistar:

Alistar is a champion who gets extremely tanky and has insane amounts of crowd control. This makes his presence in lane very high.

Courage of the Colossus is the strongest support mastery for Alistar.

It lets him maximize the effectiveness of his engages. The gap closing CC that Alistar has allows him to turn unfavorable situations on their backs with the shield and the CC.

If you’re worried about your ADC dying, Stoneborn Pact is never a bad option on Alistar. The maximum health buff makes him a pain to deal with. Additionally, the healing helps your ADC win trades.

In most cases, Courage is the superior support mastery on Alistar.

Blitzcrank:

Blitzcrank is a niche pick, but has a lot of CC and high pick potential. Courage of the Colossus is clearly the best support mastery choice.

He pulls people into them, this procs Courage of the Colossus. The shield is a very good addition to Blitzcrank’s kit because he is constantly pulling damage threats into melee range. This opens him up to take a lot of damage if his carry doesn’t follow up, making the shield from Courage valuable.

Stoneborn Pact is also beneficial to Blitzcrank, allowing him to get tankier and grant his ADC some sustain.

Since Blitzcrank is a niche pick, some people like to go for a niche support mastery pick as well. Thunderlord’s Decree also works well with Blitzcrank’s kit. His Rocket into Grab Powerfist combo instantly procs Thunderlord’s. This allows him to do surprising damage in quick trades.

Janna:

Janna is the not just the Frost Queen. She is also the queen of keeping her carry alive.

She has never ending shields which grant her ADC more damage. Her ult is one of the best team fight resets in the game. Adding increased shielding and heals to the mix makes her all the more annoying.

More shield power means longer shields. Larger shields means longer duration. Longer duration means they get bonus damage longer. And the increased healing on the ult is too good to pass up.

Some people run Thunderlord’s on Janna. It provides you with a little more damage in lane. On the contrary, it’s not worth what you’re giving up by not running Windspeaker’s.

In every situation, Windspeaker’s Blessing is your best bet when creating your support masteries.

Leona:

Leona arguably has the most crowd control in the game.

That being said, it should be clear what support mastery calls to her.

Courage of the Colossus amplifies her kit marginally. Leona is a very one-dimensional champion. She goes all-in and locks someone down. Then they die, or she does.

Adding a shield to her kit from the support masteries alone is extremely valuable.

Stoneborn pact is also a good support mastery if your carry doesn’t build sustain in the early stages.

Leona has potential to lock people down for extended periods of time. This allows the carry to take full advantage of the healing aspect.

The bonus maximum HP is also benefits her, as she likes to get tanky quickly as possible.

Brand:

Brand is a very aggressive supports. After his rework, he made his way to the bottom lane.

He doesn’t need a lot of income because his base damages are so high. His passive, Blaze, also adds to his damage. Every time you land three abilities, you AOE percentage of health damage.

Your passive synergizes greatly with Thunderlord’s. Thus making Thunderlord’s the only support mastery that matches the inferno of Brand’s play style.

Morgana:

Morgana greatly benefits from Thunderlord’s Decree. Her Tormented Soil can proc Thunderlord’s on it’s own very easily, let alone if the target is bound. It adds a good amount of damage to her already strong kit. It allows her to solo poke out her lane opponents and have high lane presence.

Windspeaker’s Blessing is preferred by some players. The extra damage provided by Thunderlord’s is exponentially more valuable than the increased shielding from Black Shield.

Thunderlord’s is the best support mastery choice for Morgana.

Maokai:

Maokai is a melee champion. Players generally make the mistake of going into the resolve tree for support masteries.

Where you should be looking, is the Cunning tree.

Thunderlord’s is hands down the best support mastery on Maokai.

Now that he has seen a rework, he is played differently. Maokai is used for bush control. You stack your Saplings in a bush, and zone them off of it. When a Sapling has been sitting, it ticks damage multiple times. This will instantly proc Thunderlord’s and chunk your opponent out.

Miss Fortune:

The only support mastery for Miss Fortune is Thunderlord’s.

Her make it rain is almost a guaranteed Thunderlord’s proc. It adds much needed poke to her kit.

Thunderlord’s on Miss Fortune gives your carry the extra bit of damage that they may need to finish off a kill. Not to mention your ult will instantly proc thunderlord’s as well. This support mastery enables her kit too much to run anything else.

Bard:

Bard is a champion that is fueled from aggression. His presence in lane is like none other.

Thunderlord’s is a perfect fit for Bard. It makes his lane presence even stronger. Enabling him to fend for himself even in a 2v1 situation.

His damage-oriented playstyle is only amplified by Thunderlord’s.

Thunderlord’s is the only way to go on Bard.

Karma:

Karma is a champion where the support mastery you take is dependent on how you play her.

If you’re an aggressive and damage oriented player, you should run Thunderlord’s.

The extra damage from Thunderlord’s can be the difference between an enemy living or dying. It’s not hard to get Thunderlord’s off on a tethered target.

If you’re a safer, more peel oriented Karma player. Windspeeker’s Blessing is the support mastery for you.

You can stay in the back and enable your carries while still doing decent damage.

With or without Thunderlord’s Karma’s early damage is insane.

Rakan:

Rakan has an extremely overloaded kit. Aside from the AOE knock up, charm, and poke, he has two shields and a heal.

Running Windspeaker’s Blessing is clearly the best call for Rakan.

With his already extremely powerful kit, amplifying the effectiveness of his shields and healing is absurd.

Thresh:

Thresh is kind of like Karma when it comes to support masteries. It’s about how you play him.

If you’re a playmaking Thresh, running Thunderlord’s is the way to go.

Putting all your points into the Cunning tree allows you to get Intelligence.

Intelligence allows you to get 45% cooldown reduction. At max CDR you can hook once every 3 seconds at max rank, assuming your first hook lands.

This opens you up for infinite amounts of playmaking potential.

If you play Thresh safe and methodically, you would max Flay and go Courage of the Colossus.

Courage of the Colossus synergizes amazingly with Thresh’s kit.

The shield can give you the confidence you need to go in and make a play you otherwise might not have.

You also don’t have the best base tank stats as Thresh, so the extra shield can be nice to have.

Now that you know how to properly utilize support masteries, go put some ADCs on your back. Good luck climbing, and see you on the Rift.